Mets Sign Tim Tebow To Minor League Deal

The Mets have signed outfielder Tim Tebow to a minor league contract, according to a team press release. He’ll head to the team’s instructional league at their Spring Training site in Port St. Lucie, Fla. Tebow is represented by CAA’s Brodie Van Wagenen.

The “outfielder” label, of course, is relatively new for the former NFL quarterback. Tebow’s most recent baseball experience came all the way back in high school, as he went on to star at the University of Florida in an extremely successful college career that saw him win the 2007 Heisman Trophy before being drafted 25th overall in the 2010 draft by the Denver Broncos. Tebow became an unlikely hero early in his NFL career, leading the Broncos to a number of late-game comebacks in his second NFL season, including a dramatic overtime win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. However, his overall performance was middling, at best, and Tebow would appear in just one more NFL season (2012 as a member of the Jets). He signed contracts with the New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles as well in 2013 and 2015 but appeared only in preseason contests for the two teams, ultimately settling in as an analyst at ESPN before recently announcing his desire to pursue a baseball career.

It goes without saying that the 29-year-old Tebow is a phenomenal natural athlete, though that certainly doesn’t guarantee any form of success in his move from professional football to professional baseball. Tebow worked out in front of scouts for 28 of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams last week — the Cubs and A’s did not attend — and was met with, at best, mixed reviews. Tebow was average or slightly above average in his 60-yard dash time and impressed scouts with his raw power, but his throwing arm drew considerably weaker reviews. And of course, Tebow will have to adjust to facing professional pitching on the fly. To this point, he’s worked out with former MLB catcher Chad Moeller and hit against free agent reliever David Aardsma, who pitched in the Majors as recently as last season. Still, even for an athlete of Tebow’s caliber, the learning curve will be substantial from this point forth.

While it has to be characterized as an extreme long shot that Tebow will ever be a meaningful contributor for the Mets (or even reach the Majors, for that matter), there’s little downside in at least rolling the dice on an athlete of his caliber that at least showed some degree of promise in a showcase. Braves GM John Coppolella offered similar sentiments just two nights ago, stating that there’s “no risk” to signing Tebow and admitting that Atlanta was exploring the possibility of signing Tebow to a minor league deal. And Tebow drew at least some degree of interest from at least eight teams, including the Blue Jays, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported last night (links to Twitter).

As a Rockies fan, let me say…WHEW. I would rather the Rockies get zero attention as usual in Spring Training than be subjected to the constant media attention Tebow is sure to garner at the expense of the rest of the team. Plus, I am happy to avoid the barrage of Tebow fans that will surely latch onto the Mets now. My condolences.

I don’t live in Colorado and I am and always have been 100% indifferent to the Broncos. I grew up as a Bears fan, but now I don’t even follow the NFL anymore thanks to Roger Badell. But that’s a different story, so I’ll digress.

I don’t dislike Tebow at all and I hope he succeeds at whatever he does. He seems like a really good young man. He is not really the problem. I don’t want anything to do with the circus (both the media circus and his followers) that comes with him.

At least in New York they are used to constant media barrage and a large pack of freaks following the team around. J/K Mets fans

You stopped following football because of the commissioner? While he is terrible at his job that has to be one of the stupidest things that I ever heard, it’s still football. Rodger Gadal is not going to say that football needs to be canceled because you stopped watching, he’ll do it for other reasons.

Either way the media will be a distraction to the other people in that camp. I wouldn’t want the other minor leaguers to be distracted from doing their jobs, which is solely to get better and eventually help the big league club.

There’s something to be said of having an athlete of his caliber and recognition working with teenagers and guys in their early 20s in Spring Training and throughout the minor league season.

The Rangers selected Russell Wilson from the Rockies in the Rule 5 Draft knowing that Wilson would never leave football (the Rockies still controlled his rights after selecting him in the draft years ago). But, Jon Daniels said they loved the idea of him effectively coming into Spring Training as a motivational speaker, participating in some drills, etc.

If Tebow can help some of the kids in the Mets’ minor league system improve their work ethic, attitude, professional demeanor, etc., there’s some benefit.

I don’t think the guy’s ever going to sniff the Majors, but I also don’t think the idea of signing someone with his athleticism and experience is the joke that many make it out to be. No real harm in rolling the dice.

I really believe so many people just can’t stand someone who is actually wholesome. We are let down by those that claim to be so often. Every single person I have talked to face to face seems to understand the benefits here so I do think it’s the minority hating just to hate

Yeah, but Wilson throws a fastball in the upper 90’s. That is mlb caliber talent. The only way Tebow plays in MLB is if he tours all the stadiums in the country, throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.

If he was so “wholesome” he would have shut his trap and signed on with an independent team to try and climb up the ranks. Holding that media circus was just for the glorification of his massive ego. Amen.

He’s a good athlete. He may be able to adapt. There are more than a few examples of currently successful MLB players who have crossed over from another sport and it was thanks to fundamental athleticism.

As much as I hope he has some degree of success and eventually makes the majors, the amount of polar opposite attention Tebow gets still surprises me. It seems the vast majority of fans (or at least the more vocal ones) either really love him or really hate him. I often wonder how much of that passionate response is due to Tebow himself, and how much is generated by the media in a frenzy to get readers and clicks.

Southi – I agree with what you said. My personal feelings towards Tebow are neutral. Tebow doesn’t have a history for being a jerk. I want to wish him the best because I like to see success stories and also because of the delight some seem to take is in stirring the pot against him. If he turns out to be a good player and makes it in the MLB, how does that hurt anyone?

1. He succeeds. The Mets look smart. Get some value. Sell a lot of merchandise and tickets.

2. He fails. The Mets look dumb. He takes some playing time away from an A or AA player that probably wasn’t going to make it either. The Mets sell a ton of merchandise.

I don’t get the hatred for Tebow on a personal level, either. There’s a ton of athletes who are openly religious. On any given day you’ll see about 50 baseball players make the sign of the cross or point to heaven. But Tebow actually follows through on his outward showings. He actually spends his time helping a lot of people. What is not to like about that?

How do the Mets look dumb if he fails?? Many players are signed and start in the low minors and never make it past low or high A ball let alone AA ball. Guys get cut every year. Even if he fails, he will help sell tickets for the minor league team the Mets assign him to this spring.

That’s true somebody had to sign him, he had a good tryout and there are many doubters out there that I don’t like at all because America is the land of opportunity and Tim Tebow if he’s good enough in the minors which he had a good tryout he could easily make it to the bigs

My God, we are so quick to tell people what they can and can’t do. Anybody saying he’s not going to make it is a hater, plain and simple, because they don’t know. Only about 28 people who watched his workout know if he can play or not and obviously some people think he’s got a little talent so let’s give him a chance before we declare this a waste. If he can’t play, he won’t. Ask MJ. But let’s not pretend there has never been a guy to play football and baseball. Bo Jackson, Deion Sanders, Brian Jordan etc. all played with varying levels of success. Hell, Josh Hamilton didn’t play for a while and didn’t miss a beat. Matt Bush shows talent overcomes a lot. I’m not saying he will or won’t make it but signing him is not a bad deal anyway you look at it IMO.

As a Mets fan, I’m pleasantly surprised with the sign. I’ll second the notion that it’s not just talent that makes the athlete, its dedication and work ethic. If Tebow rubs this off on any prospect, he’s worth it.

Read about Gary Sanchez on ESPN yesterday, how it took an aging former catcher and the birth of his daughter to dedicate himself to baseball, etc.

Not too mention, I constantly read articles about Ruben Tejada coming into Spring Training out of shape, Wilmer Flores coming in too big, etc. Athletes now are criticized if their not 7% body fat.

Oh and I know there’s more talk about an athlete like Michael Jordan never making it to the big leagues but there was once Bo Jackson (unrealistic to compare any human to Bo, I know) but there was Deion Sanders or even Brian Jordan.

I could compare Tebow to Brian Jordan but yeah no mistake about it, going from High School Junior to the big leagues at 29 would be a miracle.

Tebow compares more to Michael Jordan than the others. The big difference is that Bo, Deion, and Brian Jordan didn’t take several years off from either sport. Tebow and Jordan did. With football and basketball you can let your athleticism take over at times. Baseball is not that type of sport, you need constant repetition. It is why comebacks are so impressive in baseball.

With the skill set that he displayed at his showcase if his name wasn’t Tim Tebow he wouldn’t have been offered a contract. You can go to your local beer league softball field and probably find a handful of guys that can hit batting practice fastballs as far as Tebow did. And in the field Tebow wasn’t getting good reads on fungo fly balls.

That being said, Tebow seems like one of the good guys in life and I commend him on being able to parlay his name into an MLB showcase and contract. But in the end I think he struggles even in low A ball.

“He displayed undeniable hitting skills” according to Jerry Crasnick but I guess you overlooked that one. Dude hasn’t played organized baseball in 10 years, of course he’s not going to look like Rickey Henderson during his first tryout.

I watched his showcase on video. His footwork in the outfield was hesitant and he had a hard time picking up soft fungo hits. He has raw power off of soft BP but his poor swing mechanics were exposed against “real” fastballs. In his current state I doubt he could square up on curves and change ups in a game situation.

Pure athleticism in baseball can help players overcome deficiencies in HS, college, and lower levels of MiLB baseball. But rarely does a hitter with poor mechanics excel at playing the game. If he was 20 years old he’d have time to work on his game and have a shot at the Show. But at 29 years old I doubt he has the time or the patience to get to the major leagues.

It would be a great story if he made it to the MLB, but I think there’s too big a gap in his current skill set and that of an MLB player for him to make it at his age.

I’d be interested if anyone has any color on the business structure of ticket sales of minor league affiliates. I was under the impression all affiliates were owned separately from the big league club. I’m not sure if or what kind of piece of those sales the Mets or any club would have.

I can’t imagine Tebow actually having much of a financial impact. Minor league tickets are cheap and how many times can you expect even the most die hard tebow fans to go watch him sit on the bench. Over a whole season I don’t see much hope of him increasing average attendance by anymore than a couple dozen a game.

Tebow is tailor-made for minor league baseball. He is inexpensive, great with kids/families, and he is a great guy off the field. I think he can rub off on younger guys who may have looked up to him when he played football, etc.

I was not a football fan of Tim Tebow and as a Met fan I’m (at best) lukewarm about the Mets org signing him (primarily due to the media coverage), but I’m a big supporter of him as a person.

Tebow does a ton for his community, he is trying to make positive contributions to society, and he is a role model for thousands (more?) of kids. I wish he didn’t talk about JC so much, but some people like that about him. We as fans could do a lot worse…anyone want to sign Johnny Manziel or the next Pacman Jones?

Ha! Of course it was the Mets that signed him. Lol. Had to block the Braves from getting him right?
Could this team be run any worse? Madoff scandal, big market cheapskates, still paying Bobby Bonilla, and now Tim Tebow. The list goes on and on.

I also don’t know how you blame the Wilpons for investing with Bernie Madoff. They were getting ridiculous “returns” for years. Those absurd returns were the reason hey deferred contracts like Bonilla’s. And considering that it took FINRA, the SEC and whoever else about thirty years to discover Madoff’s wrongdoings, why would you expect the Wilpons to figure it out.

The Mets are a horribly run team. You can chalk that up to the owners, no doubt. And there’s a long list of bad decision making on their part. And they’d be forced out of the league like Frank McCourt was if they weren’t so close with Bud Selig. But you’re just wrong on Madoff and Bonilla. You could’ve listed about fifty other reasons and have been right.

I don’t want to sidetrack this too much, but the Wilpons had much greater access to Madoff and had much more involvement with his investments than the typical guy investing in his funds. There has been quite a bit written about them turning a blind eye to his management because they were so heavily invested in him. I personally think the Wilpons are scumbags and the worst owners in professional sports, but I’m stuck with them as a lifelong NY Mets fan. Once Doubleday left…it’s been downhill (in regard to ownership).

I think he would have been better utilized on an American League Team, where they could have utilized his bat in a designated hitter role. Considering his defensive potential is limited, but he possesses solid power, that could be his most likely path to success.